Promoting economic development and celebrating family, art, and culture in Latino North Philadelphia since 1979

The 2015 Feria Special Honoree: Bill Salas

In 1982, Guillermo “Bill” Salas, Jr. Co-founded the Hispanic Association of Contractors and Enterprises better known today as simply HACE. At the time a Community Development Corporation was viewed as a new tool for the revitalization of neighborhoods to improve the lives of low income people. HACE became a voice for greater social and economic improvement of the growing Latino Community in Philadelphia.

From 1982 to 1985 the voluntary Board of Directors managed the day to day operations including getting its first project underway – known today as the HACE Mall. In 1985, Bill left his employment and took on the position of President of HACE. He grew the organization from a fledgling CDC with no budget or support staff into a multimillion dollar enterprise leveraging public and private investment for the development of affordable rental and homeownership housing, providing housing counseling services, creating jobs in the community and supporting small businesses. In many ways HACE has changed the social and economic environment of its targeted community as a direct result of the various programs and projects spearheaded by the organization to create jobs, affordable housing, contracting opportunities for minority contractors, and the provision of services to help families improve their quality of life.

Since his retirement in 2013, Bill has been spending a lot more time with family (4 grand kids), traveling and pursuing his passion of the outdoors. He stays involved with working with small business people but mostly doing Real Estate Transactions with his son and daughter in law, Guillermo and Danielle, owners of a Re/Max Platinum- The Salas Team.